Call to Worship: Submit to the potter's hands

The Potter and the Clay, Part 1

Recently, there was a discussion on my Facebook page about the pros and cons of "dressing up" to go to the corporate worship of a church meeting. I'd posted a picture of myself in my Sunday best and commented that the "come as you are" approach is not only a disservice to us as growing Christians, but potentially unbiblical in terms of the focus of 'church' in general (I talked about this in my series 'Sow, Grow, and Harvest' a few weeks back, but it bears repeating: church services are not for the lost/unsaved. They are specifically for believers/followers of Christ).

In the Facebook post, I focused more on the aspect of not dressing up to go to church anymore. I lamented this passe tradition for a number of reasons, but stressed how we, as believers, are required to prepare ourselves for worship. We'll get more into the specifics of the Bible's exhortations to prepare in next week's post, but for now, understand that this preparation is triune. We're to prepare our minds and our spirits, but we're also supposed to prepare our bodies. The body, I believe, is the link between both mind and spirit. Without it being prepared, the others will suffer.

The response for this Facebook post was a mixed bag to say the least. There were excellent points made on both sides of this issue. But I found it oddly disquieting how loud and volatile those against such notions lit up my thread. I was familiar with each of these arguments before they even typed them because for most of my life, I'd been debating on their side over the same issue with my own mother.

The most common protests regarding "dressing up" to go to church?

1. God/Jesus doesn't care how we dress.

2. What about poor people? Many can't afford to wear "Sunday's Finest."

3. Dressing up makes one prideful. Pride is a sin in itself.

Three good points.

As far as point one, they are correct. Jesus doesn't care whether we dress in 100% silk Armani suits or ragged old potato sacks as long as our hearts are in the right place. As for point two, I believe they're making an assumption about the definition of our 'Sunday finest'. Not everyone's nicest clothes are created equal, and that's perfectly fine. Dressing in clothes purchased in a yard sale or through a charity shouldn't be a source of shame, especially if it's the nicest piece of clothing they might own.

And pride? Well, if the act of dressing up to go to church swells a person's head and makes them feel superior to others, those people have spiritual deficits that should be addressed by those who love them. Their disciplers Their pastors. And rest assured, the Holy Spirit has a way of correcting such issues of the heart.

Ultimately, like everything ever posted on social media, the knee-jerk reactions I received comes from an improper reading of the post itself and a gross misinterpretation of my intent. People see a post like this. They skim the words, but do not absorb what it's truly saying (or worse, they don't care), and then, for them, it's time to 'let slip the dogs of war'! So, let me exhort you now as you read the rest of this blog series: pay attention not just to the words I'm writing, but the intent. No, you can't read my mind, so you can't automatically know what that intent is. But you can figure it out based on context. Of course, if I'm completely wrong, I expect to be called out. I just ask you read this with an open mind and let everything process in that noggin of yours before you lash out. Give God time to speak to you. Be honest with yourself and try to set aside preconcieved notions and biases. If I don't change your mind at the end, that's fine. I'm just sharing what I've been convicted of and by no means imply that dressing up is a biblical mandate, because it's not. What is a biblical mandate, however, is submitting to Christ in everything. Dying to ourselves (our desires, wants, hopes, and preferences) and letting Him mold us like a potter with his clay.

18 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 2 “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will announce My words to you.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something on the wheel. 4 But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make. 5 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 6 “Am I not able, house of Israel, to deal with you as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, house of Israel. (Jeremiah 18:1-6, NASB)

Before we talk about clothing or worship or anything of the sort, it's important to address an issue that is grossly neglected in the modern church and soteriological (salvation) discussions. We talk about salvation all the time. We witness to people. We share the good news. That's great. Unfortunately, to avoid any notion of a works-based salvation, we tend to avoid a key element to how one gets saved. We forget the 'Lordship' of Jesus Christ. He's easily and most often referred to simply as Savior. And that's good that we do. But far more rare is His title as 'Lord' in evangelistic messages. Lord. Think about that word for a minute. To call someone Lord is to submitting to their ruling. Their whims. Their laws and rules. A Lord's subjects are completely dependent on him for food, protection, shelter. In exchange for these things, the serf or servant submits their will and become completely loyal to him.

Question: What is God's purpose in saving us? If you say to ensure we spend eternity in Heaven, you're only getting a small portion of the big picture. You see, like the illustration in Jeremy 18: 1-6, all humans are born defective. We are marred and disfigured by sin. When we get saved, God takes ownership of us. He recognizes are defects and He begins the process of reshaping us. Making us into new vessels. Perfect vessels. Vessels worthy of being placed in God's presence.

A clay pot cannot resculpt itself. That would be impossible. It needs the skilled hands of the potter to fix those chips and cracks. That disfigurement that makes the pottery useless. Even more, the potter doesn't simply 'fix' those things, he reshapes the pottery into an all new piece of art! And that's precisely what God is doing the moment we become followers of Christ.

Have you ever thought about what it means to 'follow Christ'? Nowhere in Scripture will you find Jesus tell a sinner to "ask me to come into your heart as savior." Nowhere in the Bible will you find Him saying, "You're okay just the way you are. Just love me as I have loved you and you will be saved." Nope. Not going to find that anywhere. What you see time and time again--whether to the tax collectors, prostitutes, adulterers, and sinners of all kinds or the Pharisees, rich men, fishermen, etc--is Jesus saying, "Follow me." [For one rich man, He told him to sell all his possessions and follow Him (Matthew 19:21). Why do you think He did that for this particular man and not others?]

What does Jesus mean by "Follow me"? What is He saying, when He tells the curious to follow Him? Is He saying, "Hey! I'm heading to the Decapolis. Why don't you follow me there and see what I'm going to do!" No, He's by no means implying the "follow me" is some temporary thing. The phrase is like an instructor telling his student to "watch what I do and do exactly what I do and say." By telling all these people to follow Him, Jesus was saying, if you want to be saved, you must become like me. You must die to yourself. Crucify your fleshly desires and selfish ambitions. In Galatians 5:24, Paul tells us: Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (NIV)

The reason Jesus told the rich man to sell all his possessions and then follow Him is because He knew the man's attachment to His wealth would prevent him from submitting fully to Christ. Jesus doesn't want just some of us. Parts of us. He demands lordship. He demands sovereignty in order to reshape us. Mold us. Turn us into new, unmarred vessels.

All too often, however, the modern church wants to skip this part in its evangelistic presentations and the repercussions are obvious. The Church has become full of people who say they're saved, yet show no fruit. It has become full of what's known as nominal Christians. Christians in name only, but who truly do not "follow Christ" in its biblical definition or are willing to let Him change and sanctify us. Not willing to let Him reshape us into new vessels as a potter does with broken or marred pottery.

But Kent, you might be asking, what does any of this have to do with dressing up to go to church? What does this have to do with preparing ourselves for worship? How does any of this apply?

First of all, it has everything to do with worship. After all, only those right with God will be heard by God, whether prayer or praise. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells His followers that if they go to the altar to leave an offering and someone has something against them, they are to first leave that offering at the altar and go and make amends. This is just one of many verses to show that someone not in the right frame of mind and spirit (or in a sinful state) cannot worship God effectively (Matthew 5: 23-24).

Second, I left out one comment in that original Facebook post that was like a slap to my face and a wake-up call to me. The comment said something like this (I'm paraphrasing to protect the commenter): "I don't care what you say...I'll never dress up to go to church. I'm going to stay casual!" Translation: My comfort is more important to me. Interpretation of translation: I'm not willing to change for anyone...including Jesus.

Am I being too critical? Judgmental? Maybe with the one who posted this example. But the sad truth is that the Church is full of such attitudes. We've catered our entire church organizations to encourage this attitude with our "Come as you are" mentality. No, there is nothing any of us can DO to be saved. It is purely by grace through faith. But if you say you want Jesus to "come into my life" and save you and aren't willing to give up your old life in exchange for a new purified vessel, is that salvation real?

Food for thought. In preparation for Part 2 of this series (not sure how many of these there will be yet), take a look at the focal verse for our continued look at preparing for worship and meditate on it for a while:

In Ecclesiastes 5:1, Solomon tells us: Guard your steps as you go to the house of God, and approach to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools; for they do not know that they are doing evil.

In the meantime, God bless you all. I'm praying for each and every one of you.